Firefighters battle a wildfire in Dionysos, north east of Athens, on July 27, 2021.
Greek authorities have evacuated several areas north of Athens as a wildfire swept through a hillside forest and threatened homes near the country's capital.
The fire, which started on Tuesday morning, is "out of control," Dionysos mayor Yannis Kalafatelis told Greek radio.
The town located about 30 kilometres northeast of Athens is among those affected, along with neighbouring Stamata and Rodopoli.
74 firefighters were deployed on the ground to try and contain the fire, which sent smoke over Athens.
Five water-dropping planes and five helicopters were being used to fight the blaze.
Flood flows on the Buller River this month were the largest of any New Zealand river in almost 100 years, Niwa measurements show.
Flow rates on the river during the flooding on the West Coast earlier this month were more than 10 times the usual rates, scientists found.
Niwa hydrodynamics scientist Richard Measures said records showed even greater flooding of the Buller River in 1926.
"It's not the largest river in New Zealand but it does experience the biggest flood flows," he said. "The flood levels through the Buller Gorge are incredible."
Niwa environmental monitoring technician Mike O'Driscoll used a radar gun from the Westport and Orowaiti bridges to measure the speed of the Buller River at its surface on July 17, the height of the recent floods.
A powerful 8.2 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Alaska, triggering a tsunami warning.
The shallow quake hit 56 miles (91 kilometers) southeast of the town of Perryville, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, with a tsunami warning in effect for south Alaska and the Alaskan peninsula.
The US government issued a tsunami warning for Alaska's southeast, while authorities in Hawaii also issued a tsunami watch.
'Hazardous tsunami waves for this earthquake are possible within the next three hours along some coasts,' the US Tsunami Warning System said in a statement.
Perryville is a small village about 500 miles from Anchorage, Alaska's biggest city.
An emergency alert sent to people's phones read: 'The National Weather Service has issued a TSUNAMI WARNING.
'A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.'
Multiple fires have broken out in northern Lebanon, devastating pine forests and threatening multiple villages. The blazes have forced some residents to flee their homes, while at least one firefighter died battling the flames.
Hot weather and strong winds have descended upon the country's northern province of Akkar, fueling multiple wildlife fires. On Wednesday, a massive wildfire broke out close to the town of Qoubayat, the largest Christian settlement in the region.
Footage from the scene shows the flames spreading extremely rapidly across wooded mountains, consuming iconic Lebanese pine forests. The blaze quickly approached the town, as well as other villages in the area.
In a world plagued by a pandemic, some stories get left behind. One that has escaped headlines, probably understandably, is the Kazakh government's new six-month ban on exporting food for livestock, insisting produce stay at home.
The reason for this intervention, which has come after the resignation of an agriculture minister and against the wishes of some farmers and exporters, is a severe drought in much of the west of the country. Following on from a dry winter, it has lasted for months and already inflicted great damage to pastures, the livestock depending on them, and the communities who, in turn, need the livestock.
Comment: Rather tellingly, albeit unsurprisingly, the author forgets to mention the recordbreakingcold temperatures that are occurring with an increasing frequency across the planet; and, in failing to include them, he avoids having to explain why they were not predicted, nor can they be explained, by the much debunked theory of global warming for which he seems to show a preference.
That said, extreme weather of all kinds is on the rise, and it does pose a threat to life on our planet, but the drivers behind cyclical climate change are much greater than 'human emissions':
At least 16 people have died and 20 others were either injured or reported missing in two separate incidents of cloud bursts in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir and Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, even as heavy rains brought life to standstill in several parts of northern India in the past 24 hours.
On Wednesday morning, the Jammu and Kashmir administration deployed Indian Army and state disaster relief force personnel at Honzar village in Kishtwar district after a cloudburst damaged over half a dozen houses in the area.
While seven bodies have been found from the debris, 12 others are feared trapped. Additional director general of police, Mukesh Singh, said of the 17 rescued, five were critical and have been shifted to government hospital in Kishtwar. "Army is assisting local police in the rescue operations," he said.
A mother and her son were killed on Wednesday as several areas of Islamabad city were affected by urban flooding after heavy rainfall and cloudburst.
Videos shared on social media showed cars in the E-11 neighbourhood being washed downstream amid a torrent of murky water after rainwater flooded the streets. At least 5 vehicles were damaged in the floods.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat urged the public to "cooperate and restrict unnecessary movements" as the city administration was busy clearing drains and roads in the affected areas. Army troops and rangers also joined the rescue efforts by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in the main areas as well as suburbs of Islamabad.
Indonesia's Mount Sinabung has erupted, sending a thick column of ash 4,500m into the air.
The eruption lasted for more than 12 minutes, a local geological agency said.
Villages near the volcano in North Sumatra province had already been relocated following previous eruptions, and there were no casualties, said Armen Putra, an official at the Sinabung monitoring post.
Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said: "The eruption column is thick grey, 4,500m high above the peak and inclined to the east and south."
"Hot clouds" have reaches as far as 1,000m south-east of the peak, it added.
An image shared by the agency showed billowing, dark smoke coming from the crater.
History shows that there is nothing so easy to enslave and nothing so hard to emancipate as ignorance, hence it becomes the double enemy of civilization. By its servility it is the prey of tyranny, and by its credulity it is the foe of enlightenment.
- Lemuel K. Washburn
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Inevitable given that Australian news is the only one that has noticed Biden's dementia
Comment: No tsunami but it was the strongest felt in the state since the 1964 event described above.
And this may herald the arrival of a cluster of strong quakes elsewhere.